Aaron Cashman, L.OM

Aaron Cashman, L.OM., DAOM(candidate)

Education

Doctor of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine (DAOM). Currently, Aaron is a Doctoral candidate and is training in San Francisco, California at ACTCM/CIIS (despite living and practicing Acupuncture in Philadelphia). American College of Traditional Chinese Medicine (ACTCM) is widely considered one of the top few TCM schools in the nation and is the oldest TCM graduate school on the West Coast. In the USA, to practice Acupuncture & Oriental Medicine, one is required to complete a 3-5 year Master's degree. A Doctorate is not needed.

Because of his unquenchable passion in Oriental Medicine, Aaron currently juggles practicing Acupuncture & OM full-time in Philadelphia, while traveling to San Francisco once a month to complete his Doctoral training. He plans to complete his Doctorate in Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine within a few months, with specialties in Internal Medicine/Fertility and Pain Management. Upon completion, Aaron will have more than 7 years of formal graduate-level training in Oriental Medicine and will likely be the first (or one of the first few) Acupuncture physicians with a DAOM designation to practice in the state of Pennsylvania.

Master's of Traditional Chinese Medicine (MTCM). To earn a Master's in TCM, Aaron attended the highly-respected Five Branches University in Santa Cruz, California. Five Branches is very well-known amongst Oriental Medical Universities for its academic rigor, its very high CA Licensing Exam Pass Rate (often highest in California), its top-notch faculty from Asia, Europe and US...and for its excellent Chinese Herbal Medicine program.

MTCM is a 4-5 year Master's degree program that prepares students for both California & National licensing exams. During the 4.5 years of study to receive a Master's of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Aaron successfully completed intensive Medical Internshipsin hospitals and clinicsin both China and Taiwan and received certification from Five Branches University in 5-Element Acupuncture.

Bachelor's of Psychology (B.A.). Aaron primarily studied Psychology and Literature at the Liberal Arts school, St. John's University. While at St. John's, Aaron received Acupuncture for the first time and took his first Tai Chi and Zen Meditation courses.

Certified Yoga Teacher (Sivananda Ashram, Madurai, India). As a Yoga Teacher-practitioner and Tai Qi enthusiast, Aaron also likes to incorporate aspects of Yoga/Postural Therapy into his Oriental Medicine practice, when needed. As a meditator who has sat in silent meditation for literally thousands of hours on numerous, intensive 10, 20 and 30-day courses in India, Nepal, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Sri Lanka, California and elsewhere, Aaron is truly passionate about bridging the gap between the mind and the body- and helping others to do so as well.

JiuFen, Taiwan

My Story

While in my second year of college at age 19, I had a minor hip surgery that left me weak and in pain. My Allopathic Doc (MD) gave me pain killers and told me to rest for a few weeks. The problem with resting in bed with painkillers was that I still needed to attend classes, study and take tests. While the strong painkillers helped relieve the pain, they also left me very tired and foggy-headed....not a good recipe for study and test-taking success.

That was when I decided to try Acupuncture for the first time. I was instantly astonished by how well it relieved the pain and greatly sped up the healing process of the hip. And it didn't hurt! Not only did it not hurt, it felt great ! I came out of each treatment feeling incredibly grounded and relaxed. I had repeated treatments while my hip was healing and became more and more fascinated by its efficacy with each treatment.

Before the acupuncture treatments, I thought that I would pursue a career in clinical psychology or writing. However, by the time my hip had healed, I was fully inspired by and immersed in the realm of 'Alternative Healing Modalities'. Subsequently, in an effort to delve deeper, I took numerous intensive Zen, Vipassana and other meditation courses. I read books on Ayurveda, Oriental Medicine, Naturopathy, Homeopathy, Yoga, Taoism, etc, and eventually ended up living and studying in India for roughly 2 years (in total).

After having lived, worked and studied in Asia for over 5 years (India, Taiwan, South Korea and Japan primarily), and after numerous Acupuncture/Oriental Herbalism, Ayurvedic, and Homeopathic treatments (to name a few), I decided it was time for me to go to graduate school to pursue my dream of becoming an Oriental Medicine Practitioner (Acupuncturist/Herbalist).

Interests

When I'm not biking or jogging around Philly, I can often be found studying Mandarin, reading, meditating, doing yoga or Tai Qi, or spending time with family and friends. I also deeply enjoy travel and learning about new cultures. And ping-pong.